Molly
by demgrl1991
Summary: With two war hero parents, a super-star auror sister and an international quiditch star brother, seventeen-year-old Molly Malfoy just wants to know where she fits in, and when it will be her turn to shine. Please review! I do not own Harry Potter
1. Prologue

PROLOGUE

Eleven-year-old Molly sat on the train, alone. Her mother had told Cissy and Art to watch over her, buy as soon as Ginny was out of sight Art had told her to stay far, far away, _he_ was going to go hang out with his friends, and didn't want an annoying little firstie around. Cissy laughed at the idea that a twelve-year-old was so much better, before running off to the prefects' car, her brand new badge proudly displayed on her chest.

Molly sighed. It had been just yesterday that she and Art had been best friends. When he'd gotten his Hogwarts letter, he'd promised that they'd still be best friends when she got to school. But somewhere during his first year, he'd forgotten his little sister, and come to view his big sister as little more than an annoyance. She missed him so—

"Hi! I'm Jenny Perkins! Can I sit here? Thanks!" A perky voice, which seemed to speak in all exclamation points, and didn't allow two way conversations, interrupted Molly's musings.

"I can't believe I'm a witch, it's so exciting!" the girl, Jenny, continued. Then she quieted a bit. "But I'm _so _nervous. I bet everyone else has a witch mum, and a wizard dad, and knows all about magic, I'm so, so, _so_ scared that I'm going to be lost, and no one will like me, and I really need this to work, I , well, where I come from, I'm not _normal_, which, in fifth grade, is very important. So, I read all these books, ya know, about magic, which I got from the book store. At least now I know the history of magic—"

Molly snorted, thinking of the infamously boring History of Magic class that her parents, sister, and brother had all described. Jenny looked offended.

"Well, I do! I read this one book, called _The Second War_, so I know all about that, for starters. The book was really good, but I'd have hated to have lived in that time. See, according to that book, I'm what's called a muggleborn, and back then, that was a really bad thing to be, a really dangerous thing to be. So I'm glad it's all better now."

Molly snorted again, thinking now of how very wrong she was. It wasn't all better now. Her parents got death threats daily from ex-deatheaters, and she'd been kidnapped once. This time Jenny just ignored Molly and continued in her monologue.

"The really exciting thing, though, is that some of the heroes from the book, they teach at the school, so I get to meet them. I know, because the book had a where are they now section about all its characters. Ginny Weasley is the Defense teacher, which is totally awesome cause anyone who lead an army of defenders would be an awesome defense teacher. And spy extraordinaire, Severus Snape, he teaches potions. And the head of the Order of the Phoenix, which was the good guy's organization, Minerva McGonagall works there too, but she's the headmistress, so we probably won't see her much, but still. It'll be so cool, we'll actually get to meet these people!"

This both Art and Cissy had warned Molly about. There was a certain amount of hero worship following their parents and their parents' friends, both had said. Molly had hoped they were exaggerating their claims, but she seemed to be wrong. The first person she met was waxing praise on them, and this was a muggleborn, someone who hadn't even grown up with these stories. It was only going to get worse, she now knew.

**mmmmmmmmmmmm**

A few hours later as the train arrived at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Jenny and Molly scrambled to put on their robes. As they got out of the train, the first years got their first glimpse of the school.

"Wow. That's just… wow." Jenny murmured, taking it all in. Even Molly, who had been there many times before, being a teacher's daughter, was in awe of the school.

"This is it." she said. "This is Hogwarts, my new home."

Jenny nodded.

**mmmmmmmmmmmm**

Molly sat with the other first years in a back hall, waiting for the sorting ceremony. She laughed at the conversations going on around her.

"My brother said we have to battle a dragon!"

"No, see, my sister, whose always right, says it's a basilisk!"

"Huh-uh. It's a test, to see how smart you are, that places you. And if you're not smart enough, you get sent home!"

"Molly!" Jenny cried out fearfully. "Are they right? Cause I don't want to be sent home and I don't want to face a basilisk."

Molly was laughing. She knew the truth. All you had to do was put on a silly hat!

**mmmmmmmmmmmm**

"Macaby, Jules!" called Deputy Headmaster Snape, scowling as per usual. The terrified boy walked toward the hat, and tripped over his own feet. Blushing, he got back up and stumbled on to the stool.

"Hufflepuff!"

Molly knew what was coming next, and gulped back her fear. She had no idea what house she would wind up in, and wasn't all together sure she wanted to find out. While she was quite sure her father had been joking about disowning her if she wound up in Hufflepuff, she had no real desire to press her luck on that one. She was in such a daze that she perceived, rather than heard, Snape call out "Malfoy, Molly!"

Determined not to make the same mistake as the boy in front of her, Molly carefully walked up to the hat, and sat down as gracefully as was within her abilities. Which wasn't very gracefully at all. She placed the hat on her head and bit her lip, awaiting her fate.

_Hmm. A Malfoy, and a Weasley too. Yet nothing like your parents, nor your siblings. Don't get me wrong, you are brave, and cunning, both Gryffindor and Slytherin would serve you well, but would you reach your full potential there? No, I think not. It must be _"RAVENCLAW!"

The last word was shouted loudly, and a quarter of the room started cheering. Art looked relieved at not having her in his house, and she scowled at him, but Cissy looked almost disappointed, which rather surprised Molly, but she shrugged it off, and walked over to her house table.

**mmmmmmmmmmmm**

_Ravenclaw_ Molly mused in bed later that night. _Ravenclaw. Well. I always knew I was different. But still. Mum and Dad were in Gryffindor and Slytherin, Cissy and Art are in Gryffindor and Slytherin. Why aren't I like anyone in my family? Well, at least I now have definitive proof that I'm smarter than Art. That's gotta irk him._ With that the girl became significantly more cheerful. Her brother was sneaky and cunning, but she, she was _smart_. With that, she switched off her lamp, and went to sleep.

**mmmmmmmmmmmm**

The next morning, Filius Flitwick, her head of house, handed out their schedules. Just as Molly had feared might happen, she had Defense Against the Dark Arts first. Not to say that Molly wasn't a fan of DADA, she was, but to start her Hogwarts career with her mum as her teacher!

She trekked to the DADA classroom with her classmates, resigned to being known for the next seven years as the teacher's kid. She sat down near the back of the classroom, uncharacteristically hoping that the teacher wouldn't notice her. _Who am I kidding?_ she thought._ Of course mum will notice me._

Ginny Weasley swept into class moments before the bell, and walked up in front of her desk.

"Hello, I'm Professor Weasley, and I teach Defense Against the Dark Arts. If any of you aren't meant to be in DADA right now, I suggest you go to wherever you are meant to be. As for the rest of you, welcome to your first class at Hogwarts, and welcome to the next seven years of your life. This class is here to teach you how to defend your self against the dark arts, as its name suggests. It is not here to teach you about any sort of history, including the history of the war, which many students incorrectly assume it is for, since I was in the middle of the war, and I teach this class. However, to keep from getting questions unrelated to the class, and about the war, throughout the year, I use the first day of class to let each of you ask one question about anything you want. So, if anyone has a question, raise your hand. When I call on you, introduce yourself to me and the class, and then ask your question. If it is a question I feel I cannot or should not answer, I will allow you to ask a new one. So, you can raise your hands now. You, in the back, with the blonde hair."

"My name is Melissa Blake, ma'am." the girl said. "I was wondering, well, what war are you talking about. See, my family's not magic, so I'm sort of lost right now."

Ginny smiled. _So it begins_.

As the last student was asking his question, the bell rang. "Stay in your seats," the professor said, "while I answer this question. I will write you all passes to your next class. And Ms. Blake and Ms. Malfoy, please stay after class."

Molly groaned, and didn't even hear the answer to the last question. She hadn't done anything wrong, so she was sure her mum was holding her back because she was, well, her mum. Why her?

As the class filed out, the two girls walked up to the professor's desk. Ginny said that they weren't in trouble, so they could get those glum looks out of their faces. She just had an assignment for them, for extra credit of course. What she didn't know, is that over the course of this assignment, her daughter would find her new best friend for life.


	2. Chapter One: Molly

SIX YEARS LATER

"Mrs. Finnegan is not going to approve of me as her son's mother-in-law! Why not? Why not?! Well for starters, she goes as Mrs. Finnegan, I kept my maiden name, that cannot be something she approves of! Actually, sweetheart, darling, my mum doesn't approve either, but she _has_ to love me, and she's too kind to disown her own daughter for being a feminist. Oh, and let's not forget- I DATED her husband! Yes, I did. How long? A month. Well, even if it was just a month, it still happened! Oh please Draco, like you can stand anyone I used to date. Oh honestly, you only put up with Harry because I make you. Arthur Reginald Malfoy! Take that hideous shirt off NOW!"

Two floors up and three hundred yards over, seventeen-year-old Molly Malfoy was sitting in her room, ruffling through her clothes, trying to find something that a) she wouldn't be embarrassed to be caught dead in, and b) her mum wouldn't force her to change out of. It was proving to be a more difficult task than previously anticipated. Usually, her mum was quite cool, but today her sister was bringing her fiancé home, and that caused Ginny Weasley to become rather, well, stressed, as evidenced by the yelling that could be heard two floors up and three hundred yards over. Molly was rolling her eyes at her mum's assumption that Art was actually going to listen to her.

Actually, neither of her siblings had any predisposition to listen to either of her parents at that point in time. Art had just graduated from Hogwarts two months previously, and two weeks ago had been drafted by Puddlemere United, so now he thought he was all that, walking around the manor in his new navy blue team robes. Cissy was even further gone, she had completed auror training a year previously, completed several dangerous missions, and three days earlier her boyfriend of five years had proposed. An auror Cissy was bad enough, but an auror Cissy who was getting _married_ was ten times worse.

Molly sighed. At her age, Cissy had been both number one in her class and the captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team, as well as the most popular girl in her year, and had a steady boyfriend. When Art had been a seventh year, he'd been the Slytherin quidditch captain, head boy and dated every girl fourth year and up, with the sole exception of his own sister. No wonder they'd both moved on to great things, they'd both been legends back in school.

On the other hand, the greatest distinction Molly had earned was Madame Pomfry's offer to take her on as an intern, which would pass as her first semester of healer school, Molly's dream profession. As for popularity, she had her one best friend, Melissa Blake, and had gone on a few casual dates. She had only recently had her first kiss. She was completely uncoordinated, and unathletic, and while her grades were certainly above average, she was in no way at the top of her class. She _was_ number three, but she found her class rank to be a great disappointment. After all, Cissy had been number one, as Professor Snape had reminded her more than once. And by more than once, she meant on every possible occasion.

Having found an acceptable outfit and thrown it on, Molly plopped down on her bed and rolled over, and flipped open her magazine, _Witches Weekly_, to catch up on all the celebrity gossip, though she didn't know why she bothered, Melissa certainly didn't care, and Mel was almost certainly the only girl she was likely to gossip with anytime in the near future. After all, unlike her brother and sister, she wasn't little miss popular. As she started to read an article on how to banish acne (a feat which she'd accomplished in her third year), the doorbell rang. Molly rolled her eyes again. Only Weasleys had doorbells. Their existence in any wizarding home was simply a result of her grandfather's obsession with all things muggle. Although, seeing as Arthur Weasley had been _Minister of Magic_, a far cry from his previous job in the office of misuse of muggle artifacts, since the end of the second war, Molly was slightly surprised that there was not yet a law requiring all wizarding households in Britain to use as many muggle appliances as possible.

"Draco! Arthur! Molly!" she heard her mum yell, "Our guests are here!"

Molly groaned. She did not want to get off her bed, and she certainly did not want to attend the dinner party that her mum was throwing for Cissy's fiancé and his stupid family, especially his mother who saw herself as too good for the rest of them. She pondered for a moment, then decided not to read too much into the fact that her mum had called her name last. It wasn't because Ginny loved her the least, she decided, it was simply that she was the youngest of the three, her dad the oldest, and Art was in the middle of the lot.

With an exaggerated sigh, Molly Malfoy dragged herself to her feet and started walking to the door, towards whatever horrors the evening had in store for her. Just as she was about to go out the door, an owl flew into her window, carrying her Hogwarts letter, which, she noticed, was rather thicker than it had been the past six years.

She debated whether to open it then and there, or go to the dinner first, then read her letter. Though she was quite certain that she would face her mother's wrath for doing so, Molly ultimately gave into the temptation to read her letter first. She simply had to know why it was thicker this year.

Picking it up, Molly noticed that as well as being thicker than usual, it was heaver than ever before. She ripped it open with a small amount of fear and a great deal of excitement, and something she certainly had not expected fell out.


	3. Chapter Two: The First Fight

"Molly Minerva Malfoy! Get down here now!" Her mum's voice seemed near desperate at this point. "I mean it!"

Yet again, Molly rolled her eyes. She hated her full name. Molly Minerva Malfoy. MMM. It was just a bit too poetic for her liking.

"Coming mum!" She yelled back. Just as she was about to leave the room (again), she turned back and picked up the contents of her letter. Her mum was going to absolutely love this. Maybe it would even get her out of her funk. After all, who could disapprove of a woman who was the mother of not only a head boy, but a head girl as well? Even if that woman did do such outrageous things as keep her maiden name, have a career, and once dated your husband.

Molly ran down the stairs, grinning. She slowed down about twenty paces from the living room, as so to appear like a proper young lady in front of the Finnegans. But she absolutely could not contain her excitement.

"Mum! Dad!" she screamed, "Guess what! Guess who's Head Girl this Year! Me! I'm Head Girl! Me!"

Molly was not quite sure why absolutely no one looked happy following her amazing revelation. In fact, far from being euphoric, Mrs. Finnegan huffed and glared at Ginny. Her mum smiled back uneasily, before turning and grabbing Molly's arm, and stalking out of the room.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

"Molly," Ginny said in her overly patient voice, "Do you know what my aim in having this dinner was?"

"To impress the Finnegans," Molly returned promptly. "And I thought having not one, not two, but three impressive children might help with that."

Ginny Weasley gave her daughter a glare that clearly said that this was not the time to be impetuous. "Do you know what Sally Finnegan and I were just talking about?"

Molly shook her head, wondering what her mother was talking about.

Ginny tried again. "Well, do you know who Virginia Finnegan is?"

"Well, I'm guessing she's Mrs. Finnegan's daughter…" Molly began, stopping abruptly when she saw her mum's glare. "She's the Gryffindor Prefect in my year."

"Yes, she is," Ginny said. "And, get this: she was desperately hoping to be Head Girl. In fact, just two minutes ago, when you walked into the living room with your announcement, Sally was telling me about just how badly her daughter wanted to be Head Girl. And how badly she, Sally, wanted her daughter to be Head Girl. And just what she would want to do to any girl who managed to wrestle Virginia's rightful prize away from her."

Molly attempted to lighten the mood. "I thought you were just saying how Mrs. Finnegan is anti-feminist. If she just wants her daughter to grow up to be a quidditch mum, why does she care about her being Head Girl."

Ginny's earlier glare, which had never quite vanished, became even more pronounced. "That is not the POINT!"

"And what, pray tell, is?"

"The POINT," Ginny said, "is that tonight was about making the Finnegans like us. Tonight was about making a _good_ impression on Cissy's future in-laws! Not pissing them off!"

"Well, _excuse_ me," Molly huffed, "for being excited about getting something that I too, like Virginia Finnegan, very much wanted. And excuse me for thinking that maybe my family would be excited for me. Like how they were excited when Artie got to be Head Boy, or when Cissy was declared valedictorian. Or when each of them became captain of their respective quidditch team. Excuse me for thinking that you all would care when _I_ accomplished something. Do you know how hard it is to be me? I am _always_ in someone else's shadow. You and dad are both war heroes, Cissy is a super smart, super star auror, and Artie is an INTERNATIONAL QUIDDITCH STAR! And finally, finally, I get to be the one who accomplishes something, and all anyone cares about is that Cissy's fiancé's mum might not be overly thrilled!" By now tears were streaming down Molly's face, and she attempted to flee the room, hoping to take refuge in her chamber.

Ginny looked positively stricken. "Molly! Wait!" she yelled. "Please." she added in a whisper when her daughter didn't seem to be listening. "Please, wait."

Molly turned around. "What?" she said pointedly. "What is it? Do you need me to go back into the living room and apologize to Sally Finnegan? To suck up to her and her family? What do you want?"

Ginny stared down at her shoes. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt so terrible. And she couldn't believe that her daughter thought so little of her that she would ask that question. Except, after the last few minutes, she could.

"Molly," she said, barely speaking above a whisper, all the wind knocked out of her. "Molly, I am so sorry. I didn't mean it like that. At all. Of course I'm proud of you, we all are. It was just bad timing, and well, I was surprised."

"Okay. So. You were surprised. Well I'm glad to know you have that much faith in me, MUM." Molly returned sarcastically.

"Not by your selection," Ginny corrected quickly. "I was just caught off guard, is all. It's not that I wasn't expecting it, I was, just not at that moment, when the woman I was desperately trying to impress was saying how much she would hate whoever got the position, and her family too. And, well, I was under a lot of stress tonight, I… well… Well, I have thousands of explanations for what I said, but none of that really matters. Because none of that excuses my behavior. Molly, I am infinitely proud of you. And right now I want nothing more than the opportunity to do that all over. And kid, never feel like you are in _anyone_'s shadow. Your dad and me, we only became war heroes out of necessity, and the only reason your sister and brother have fame and fortune you don't is because they're older than you. By the time you're their age, you'll have all that, I promise. And I feel safe making that promise because I know you, and I know what _you _are capable of.

"Molly, sweetheart, I love you more than life itself, and far more than I love the thought of impressing the Finnegans. And I am so very sorry for how I reacted to your simply amazing news. Please, Molly, forgive me."

Molly almost smiled. She'd asked her mum to forgive her many times before, and often for more heinous offences, but never had her mum asked her forgiveness. It felt somewhat good to be the one holding the moral high ground for once. After standing there relishing the moment for a few seconds, she gave into her mother's pleading look, and gave her mum a hug.

"Well then." Molly said grinning. "Looks like it's time to do some damage control. Shall we go explain ourselves to the Finnegans?"


	4. Chapter Three: The Dinner

Ginny stared at her daughter from across the dinner table. Molly said she was okay, and looked like she was okay, but her mother's intuition clearly told her that her youngest daughter was most certainly not okay.

Oh, she might think she was okay. She might even feel as though everything was alright. And maybe it was, for now. But Ginny could not brush off the feeling that tonight's drama was just the start.

But for now, she would brush away those feelings. For now she would try to salvage her relationship with her older daughter's future in-laws, and celebrate her youngest daughter's achievement. How she was to do both at the same time, she did not know. And she had graduated at the very top of her class. Ginny figured she would start by listening to what the others were saying, it would help to see how the rest of her family was handling the situation, plus the dazed look she was sporting hardly could have been making a good impression on, well, anybody.

"Well, we're trying to pass new laws making paid maternity leave mandatory for all businesses in wizarding London," her husband, the bureaucrat, was saying. "So many women are either losing their jobs, or losing crucial time to bond with their children with the system the way it is. This leads to either the loss of a good deal of talent that could be changing the world, or a loss of a generation of well adjusted children, and I think we can all agree neither situation will help us. While it may create additional profits for businesses in the short term, in the long run it will cost us all quite a bit."

Ginny smiled. She had been the one who had convinced him to take on this issue. The Finnegans, on the other hand, did not seem convinced. That was when she remembered, belatedly, that they owned a struggling small business. She crossed her fingers, hoping that Draco wouldn't bring minimum wage hike he was currently pushing through next, another idea of hers.

Molly, who was more astute than her parents often gave her credit for, saw this too. She quickly jumped in. "Dad, didn't you say that you had a special provision where the government subsidizes the new law for small businesses, actually making it profitable for them?"

Draco sighed. "Yes, but that, unfortunately, is one of the hardest pieces to get through."

Ginny gave her daughter a thankful look; Molly, meanwhile, mouthed "You owe me," to her mum.

Ginny then proceeded to roll her eyes at her well meaning, but somewhat daft, husband, who still didn't get it. She decided to change the subject before Draco decided to go off on something else likely to upset the Finnegans. And there were quite a few things to chose from, ranging from the minimum wage hike to the fact that they were going to see his father in Azkaban that weekend, the Finnegans, like most of the wizarding world, absolutely loathed Lucius Malfoy. So for that matter, did Draco and Ginny, but family was family.

As if on cue, Sally Finnegan asked what the Malfoy's weekend plans were. "Well, we are going to-"

Ginny elbowed her husband and cut him off. "We're going to help Molly get ready for school to start. I assume you'll be doing much of the same with Virginia."

"Not that it really matters all that much anymore. You know, now that your retched daughter has ruined everything for her." Sally huffed.

"Oh, I'm sure your daughter will have an absolutely amazing year, filled with accomplishments beyond your wildest dreams." Ginny returned with a strained smile.

"Not really," Sally said. "But please, Ginerva, do tell me, how much did you have to pay dear Minerva to make your daughter head girl. And how much more did you have to pay her to get your deviant son as head boy?"

Narcissa, knowing that this was not going to end well, looked as though she were about to puke. Her fiancé, Jake, grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

Ginny was seeing purple. "Now wait just a minute, missy-" she started.

"Oh, wait, you don't have to pay anyone! I forgot, you're a teacher; you can just have anyone you want selected. Well, at least it will be blatantly obvious how your incompetent little girl got to be head girl. It's all about connections, isn't it. Just like it was in school. You and your little friends could just blaze by, because you were Dumbledore's friends, never had to work hard at anything."

"SHUT UP!" Draco screamed, defending his wife. "Never had to work hard! While you were sitting comfortably at school, Ginny and her 'little friends' were off fighting a WAR-"

Ginny cut him off. "You know what, say what you want about me, I honestly don't care what someone like you thinks of me. But don't you DARE talk about my daughter. She fully earned the position she's in, thank you very much. And I happen to have recused myself from picking prefects or heads during every year that any of my children were up for the roles. Also, for what it's worth, miss my-daughter's-better, I'd like to compare Molly's OWLs with Virginia's. For the record, Molly got 11 O's, two E's and an A in Divination which doesn't really count anyways. You can see yourself out. Seamus, _what_ did you see in her? Jake, you are welcome to stay, and welcome in this family. Just make sure that I am not sitting anywhere near her at the wedding. Insinuating that my Molly doesn't deserve what she has, the nerve."

Ginerva Molly Weasley-Malfoy stormed away from the dinner table.

Sally Finnegan looked scandalized.

"Of all the nerve, being so rude to a guest. You would never do that would you?" Sally said, batting her eyelashes at Draco.

Molly could barely hold back a snicker at the sight. Couldn't the woman see how furious her dad was?

"Like my wife said, YOU CAN SHOW YOURSELF OUT!" Draco near screamed.

Jake awkwardly got up from the table and gave Cissy a kiss on the cheek. "Well, Mr. Malfoy, it's been, uh, nice meeting you again. Tell your lovely wife the same. Good luck with school Molly, and Art, if you could score me, say, season passes, it would make me the most popular guy at work. Cissy, I love you, and will see you tomorrow. Goodnight."

He practically ran out of the room, his father close behind. Sally glared at the assembled Malfoy family before leaving herself.

Arthur grinned. "Four words. Best. Dinner. Party. Ever!"


End file.
